Follow Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl Round Table: "New York, I Love You XOXO"

Welcome back, once again, to TV Fanatic's final Gossip Girl Round Table Q&A discussion! Below, our panelists break down all aspects of the last Gossip Girl episode, "New York, I Love You XOXO."

In our Q&A session, TVF editor Steve Marsi and staff members Christina Tran, Leigh Raines and Courtney Morrison share their opinions on everything that went down on the season and series finale.

Weigh in with your take on the following topics after reading ours!

-------------------------------

1. What was your favorite scene or quote from the episode?

Courtney: If I'm going for the funny... definitely goes to Jack: "Come on out Blair, Uncle Jack is here to help." Other than that, I loved everyone gathered trying to figure out who was Gossip Girl.

Christina: Mad props to William for both: “Run along back to Florida and be the queen of the swamp people.” and then “You’re a lifetime movie called Nobody Gives a Damn: The Ivy Dickens Story.”

Leigh: Favorite quotes: Jack meeting Georgina. I wish these two had met sooner, their banter alone could've made a spinoff. Favorite scene was the flash forward. They used "You Got The Love" from the Sex and the City finale and that automatically gets me emotional. It was perfect to see everyone in a good place.

Steve: Hizzoner himself, Michael Bloomberg, reading his phone and saying "I thought it was Dorota." Let's just let that sink in ... they got the Mayor of New York City and one of the world's most powerful people to do that. Pretty awesome work, Stephanie. I also enjoyed the closing song, as Leigh said. Great symmetry with SATC and fittingly, Florence + The Machine did the honors in Derena's case.

2. Were you surprised to find out the identity of Gossip Girl?

Courtney: Yes! I guess the signs were there but I had my money on Eric.

Christina: I was a bit surprised because I spent most of the time convinced that Jenny was behind it all. And actually, I think there would have been way less plot holes if the writers went that route.

Leigh: After reading speculation and articles and forums for the last few weeks I narrowed it down to the Humphrey family. Especially when people were saying that there was a key clue at the end of "It's Really Complicated." Dan said he's had a plan this whole time. Boom. I didn't like it at first and then I was like you know what? This is brilliant.

Steve: As the only one of the four of us to pick Dan in last week's Round Table ... I was still surprised the writers pulled the trigger on that, and pleasantly surprised. There's NO CHANCE it was planned that way from the very start, but it feels like there were definite clues dating back to Season 5 and possibly earlier.

3. Chuck and Blair got married and had a Mini-Bass. What was your favorite Chair moment?

Courtney: From this episode? The proposal by far. And seriously, how gorgeous did those two look for their wedding.

Christina: I liked the flash forward with Henry. He was adorable and I was just glad that Chair could finally get their happy ending.

Leigh: The proposal. "Chuck and Blair could never be boring." Also loved their old Hollywood kiss at Bethesda Fountain. However, the best was when Dorota said to Henry, look who it is and he screamed "Daddy" and jumped into Chuck's arms. That made me melt. Then when he was talking to Cyrus, he was looking at Blair adoringly. I wanted more of the Bass family!

Steve: I like that Chuck and Blair have a son and seem like good, happy parents. That to me says more about the long-term stability and strength of their relationship than anything.

4. In the flash forward, we learned that Serena and Dan were tying the knot. It's about time or big mistake?

Courtney: About time! These two have been at the core of the show since say one. Although, after realizing Dan was GG it seemed a little weird. But hey, he loves the girl and she loves him. Good for them!

Christina: What mistake? Serena's goal in life was to get married, and of course she ended up with the one person who was more obsessed with her than herself.

Leigh: Only Serena can decide what's right for her. They waited five years so I can only assume that they sorted all of their crap out. I think it was about time. I wish we saw some more Gossip Girl Season 1 Dan and Serena because that was them at their best. Serena doesn't care that she was written about, "remember you're nobody unless you're talked about."

Steve: She made peace with his role as Gossip Girl, and five years passed, so it's hard to call it a mistake. If they had rushed into it, that would be another story. Team Derena.

6. There were blink-and-you-miss-it scenes with Jenny and Eric. Would you rather have had them come back and play a bigger role?

Courtney: I expected them to have a bigger part since their return was talked about quite a bit. I would have rather had them not return if their role was going to be that small. Did Jenny even talk?

Christina: Of course I would have loved more screen time with the younger siblings; however, the entire finale felt incredibly rushed as is. I’m not so sure how else they could have been involved.

Leigh: I definitely wanted more from Eric and little J. Rachel Bilson and Kristen Bell had more of a role, not that I'm complaining because I'm a fan of both, but we needed a little more Eric and Jenny.

Steve: It did seem a little pointless to bring them back just for that, although at least they helped end the flash forward on a happy note. However, Lisa Loeb was more noteworthy in that scene!

7. Rate the Gossip Girl finale on a scale of 1-10.

Courtney: I always want to give a series finale such a high rating. I thoroughly enjoyed the episode and discovering that everyone was doing so well in the future. There were definite plot holes, but there have been gaping holes in this show from the beginning. I'm going with a solid 8.

Christina: 5! It fell so short of what it could have been. Sure, there were plenty of answers and resolutions, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I'm going to pretend Gossip Girl Season 2 was the end.

Leigh: I'm gonna give it a 10. I'm SURE I will get a lot of arguments because you can never please a whole audience, but they wrapped it up the best they could and we said goodbye. XOXO.

Steve: I'd go much lower, but you can't punish the finale for some of the Season 4-6 episodes that preceded it, so I'll say 9. On its own merit, "New York, I Love You XOXO" was a lot of fun.

Around the Web

Follow Gossip Girl

b•December 18, 2012 22:42

Did anyone else notice the bag Jenny was carrying J for Waldorf great little blink and you'll miss it nod

b•December 18, 2012 22:39

I'm going to take a leap of faith and think that the writers and producers made Dair happen to offset the drama of the Penn and Blake breakup and the fact that Blake and Leighton probably did do hate each other Penn was upset when dair ended because it ensured his character ending up with Lively's meaning they'd have to spend more time together which neither wanted which is why their scenes since the breakup have been subpar and off putting

b•December 18, 2012 22:33

I think my aha moment was when Bart Bass who knew everyone's secrets had Dan referred to as the chronicler of Manhattan'a elite

b•December 18, 2012 22:29

Dan being Gossip Girl makes sense to me. Dating Blair, revealing that he had an affair with a teacher, getting the most popular girl in your class pregnant, and calling yourself the ultimate insider upped his status then building Serena up and tearing her down puts them on an equal playing field.

I think Lily pulled the best quote today when she said that hilarious thing about Bart's funeral because come on? Who didn't think the exact same thing? :D I also loved the running gag that Lily immediately went back to a former husband^^ Besides from that of course both weddings were beautiful. Loved how they all talked at the end about who'd be Gossip Girl...and I didn't get myself into thinking about plotholes...I know there would be alot but strangely it still made sense Dan being GG and I liked it! All in all I found it a good ending considering the last two seasons. I enjoyed it and loved the guest stars even if Jenny, Eric, and Vanessa could have made a bigger appearance for my liking. But I really was happy with the finale and that surprised me even more than the revealing of Gossip Girl. The writers and directors did well with the amount of time they had for the finale. R.I.P GG...I'm not gonna lie I'm kinda glad that I never have to watch a bad episode of GG again^^ BTW: I love the title of this episode and the that cute little Mini Bass. And Blair really looked stunning in both outfits but so did Serena...Holy... that dress blew me away!

I stopped watching GG on S2 and saw the series final 2 epsides, now you guys making me feel like i did not missed anything between s2 and s6? and in fact i dont feel like i missed much. S1 was the best.......and most the finale flashback were from s1 so i was happy. Will miss much of GG XOXO

chucks girl•December 18, 2012 21:42

Jenny didn't say much but she did carry a "J by Waldorf" bag so I guess she's back in NYC working with Blair

whateva•December 18, 2012 21:31

Looking back it was season 2 when I started to suspect Dan I mean all his writings were about NJBC and his label in the finale was "the ultimate insider". But I kind of wish it was partnership with Jenny just to cover some plotholes.